


All Things Go

by Warriorsqueen



Series: All I Want is to Love and be Loved [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-23 (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Dissociative Identity Disorder, F/M, Identity Issues, Kinda, Minor Body Horror, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-11 09:17:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3322064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warriorsqueen/pseuds/Warriorsqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His soulmate was a part of Hydra. His soulmate had betrayed him. Was she even really his soulmate?</p><p>Chapters 8 and 9 from "Welcome to the Crying Game (Where You Lose Your Soul)", written from Bucky's point of view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok I fought hard with myself on the decision to make this the next chapter or a mini side story. I went back and forth a million times. But I ultimately decided to do a side story because its going to end up way longer than the 2 chapters that it came from.  
> Enjoy!

Bucky Barnes was a lot of things. Bucky Barnes was a soldier, brave and efficient. Bucky Barnes was a ladies man, charismatic and romantic. Bucky Barnes was a friend, loyal and self-sacrificing. But the one thing that Bucky Barnes wasn’t was real. Bucky Barnes was a cover story, a false identity for the Asset to hide behind.

Though he wasn’t the Asset anymore. He had broken free of Hydra and everyone who controlled him, but it wasn’t enough. He was still the Asset - no, he was no longer the Asset, he was the Winter Soldier. But he still wasn’t Bucky, so he just pretended he was.

Until he met Darcy. Darcy was his soulmate, his strongest inspiration to break free and find himself. He didn’t know when her words had appeared, but he had seen them for the first time when he had been brought out of cryo. He had seen the words on his arm and felt the control over him crack for the very first time. Hydra had seen that and tried their hardest to remove them, but they couldn’t. And now, the cracks were open wide but the control still lingered.

So when Steve had pulled him aside to say that Darcy had been revealed as a spy, he dropped his cover. He was no longer Bucky, instead he was just James. He was the Winter Soldier, and he been betrayed by the one person he thought he could trust. That hurt much more than he’d ever admit.

Currently he was waiting to observe Darcy’s interrogation. The observation room was large but was still packed full of Avengers; everyone wanted to see what was going on. Clearly they hadn’t had to deal with traitors in their midst before.

Banner excused himself before anyone even set foot in the room with her. His reason was to search Darcy’s quarters, but it was obvious that is more about discomfort with the situation. Besides, her quarters had already been swept (with nothing of interest to be found except for the contents of an old backpack).

 

With Natalia still out from the gas (how was Darcy already fully awake?), it was Steve who went in to start the interrogation.

 

“Miss Lewis, you sure have a hell of a lot of explaining to do.” He slammed a small folder on the table between them. “This is your file, pulled straight from the SHIELD leak. It is noticeably empty except for a few things: the extent of your combat ability was taxing people and that you apparently didn’t exist until 8 years ago. Now, we all just saw hold your own against the Black Widow, so the combat ability is a lie. Do you want to explain the not existing part?”

“I was holding back.”

Steve’s words echoed the confusion among the observers. “What do you mean?”

Darcy gave a smirk, which looked extremely out of place on her soft face. “Against Natasha. My intention was never to hurt her. I was simply a distraction. I can beat her very easily if I need to.”

James heard a snort come from Barton.

If you can beat her so easily, why did Hydra buy you to watch Jane?”

Darcy scowled “I am  _not_ Hydra. I would _never_ be Hydra. Hydra caused me to be created and turned me into a weapon, and I refuse to be used as one again.”

 

James could see that Steve’s posture was showing obvious discomfort. He was likely making the connection to the Winter Soldier - molded into a weapon and used. James himself only felt suspicion; she was using Steve’s weakness against him in her own interrogation. A helpless intern wouldn’t even attempt that. Besides, her posture and mannerisms were completely different from the Darcy he had observed in the past.

“Then who is it that you work for? Why are you spying on us?”

“I do not work for anyone and I am not a spy.”

“Then what was the point of that heist?”

“I owed him. He helped me when I had no one else to turn to. I will not tell you his identity.”

The Asset felt jealousy bubbling within his chest. Who was this man who Darcy was protecting? Why was he so important?

“Then I hope you don’t mind us going through the things in your room.”

Darcy shrugged. “I do not mind. I just request that nothing be damaged.”

Stark laughed. “Too late. Your robot boyfriend punched your mirror."

Steve stood up, grabbed the file, and walked out. Once he was back in the observation room, he gave a hollow laugh. “That wasn’t an interrogation, that was a game. She was completely in control of the situation, and knew exactly how to hit me where it hurts.”

James felt his hands tighten into fists. It was like she knew exactly what he was, broken apart and put together as weapon that he to never wanted to be, used unwillingly.

“I want to speak to her.” He didn’t phrase it as a request. He would ask his betrayer the questions he really wanted to know, and he would not be prevented from doing so.

“You will. I will go in with you.” Everyone turned towards Natalia. “They’re worried you’ll snap. I’ll be there to break up whatever happens.”

James nodded. That was acceptable. He moved towards the door.

“Not yet. We should let her sit a bit longer.”

Barton snorted again. “Do you really think you’re going to sweat anything out of her? She’s some sort of agent, Hydra or not, and a little bit of waiting isn’t going to do anything. Did you see her testing the restraints when she first woke up? I bet she’s planning an escape right now.”

Natalia turned to her own soulmate, scowling. “Did I ever say we were letting her sweat? We’re letting her sit because I can feel the emotions in here flaring up, and we can’t be emotional for this interrogation. She may have been a friend, but she is still a possible threat that needs to be questioned and understood.”

So they all waited. Stark fidgeted (still uncharacteristically silent), Barton grumbled, and Steve and Natalia silently discussed Darcy.

Once Natalia declared enough time had passed, James led the way into the interrogation room. He sat at the table and observed the girl in front of him. She held herself with a certain amount of strength, but she was uncomfortable on a level that she seemed unaware of.

“Who do you work for?”

Darcy held his gaze. “I do not work for anyone.”

“Who have you worked for?”

“Many groups. Anyone who would pay. Never directly for Hydra. Never directly for SHIELD. Never by choice”

“Who trained you?”

“The Facility.”

“What is your real name?”

She looked away in apparent discomfort. “I was given designation X-23 at birth. I adopted Talon as a codename later. But my mother gave me a real name.” She paused and regained eye contact. “My name is Laura.”

Laura. Not Darcy. X-23. Talon. Laura.

Laura.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know you're writing an X-Men fic when you forget your own continuity and want to retcon it. This does count as X-Men, right?  
> Anyways, here's the part this story was made for- the reactions of the group.

James felt anger rising within himself

“Are you actually my soulmate, or was that a part of your cover?”

Laura lifted her right hand and faced the soulmarked palm towards him. “It is real. I did not expect it to be anyone here. I apologize that my first words to you were a lie.”

He heard a roar go through his mind and began moving on instinct. He reached out with his metal arm and gripped her wrist right below the shackle. In the next breath, the shackles on her wrists were detached from the chains and Laura had what appeared to be long metal claws extending from between her knuckles. The claws were firmly pressed against the wrist of his arm and her face reflected the lack of emotion found on his.

“I can cut through this. I do not want to. Release me.”

“I think you should put away the blades first.” Both of their heads turned to Natalia, who had her gun aimed directly at Laura.

Laura snarled and pushed the claws a little bit deeper into the metal of the arm. James could feel his own emotions rising, the part of him that was Bucky finding her _extremely_ attractive, and the part of him that was still The Asset seeing her as an extremely dangerous threat.

Natalia began moving forward. “I said to put away the blades. I won’t ask again.”

The blades slipped slowly into the skin beneath Laura’s knuckles, disappearing within her arm. James released his grip. Laura immediately moved into a submissive position, sitting back in her chair, her eyes fixed on the floor.

She spoke quietly and without looking up. “I want to talk to Thor. I will only speak to him.”

James rose and walked of the room, not meeting Natalia’s gaze. He had not failed his mission of getting answers (in fact, he had gained more information than Rogers had), but still hadn’t gotten all of the answers he wanted.

When he got back to the observation room, an argument had broken out between Thor and Stark.

“She’s dangerous! She’s not human!”

“She has requested my presence, so I shall go to question the Lady Darcy.”

“That’s the thing! She isn’t Darcy! This… _not_ -human calls herself Laura! She’s not who you think she is!”

“Quiet, both of you!”

Rogers had stepped between them.

“Thor, go see why Laura wants you. Leave Mjolnir in the hall.”

Thor nodded and left the observation room. As he sat in the interrogation room, James positioned himself to watch. But when he observed Laura, he saw that her posture had changed. Before, she was sitting straight and gave of an air of control and secrecy. Now, she seemed to relaxed and friendly, sitting in a natural position and holding herself more openly. In short, she seemed to be as she seemed as Darcy.

 

Laura smiled and met Thor’s eyes. “Hey, big guy. I’m going to need you to trust me just for a minute here and just let me talk. Firstly, I’m not Laura. Well I am, but not really. Like, we’re both pretty fucked up in the head and have major personality issues. It’s not quite DID, but I think it’s pretty similar.”

James could hear Stark muttering “What the actual fuck is happening?”

Laura (or was it Darcy?) continued. “There’s two of us: Laura and Darcy. If you want to get technical about it, Laura’s the real one and I’m the cover story that went a bit too far and became almost a person. Sometimes we’re fairly merged together, but that’s really only on the worst days and I’m sorry to say that’s been pretty common recently.”

Stark sighed. “This is turning into a fucking science fiction novel. Jarvis, is she telling the truth?”

“All vital signs point towards her speaking the truth.”

“My life’s a goddamn soap opera.”

Darcy (Laura?) was then speaking on her next point and showing off her hand. James wondered how much he had harmed her; it was not his intention to break her arm and he hoped the damage was minor. She had Thor look closely at the star on her hand and Thor said it was the mark of something called "the Enigma Force.”

Rogers was the next to comment. “She’s trying to gain trust. Thor trusts his own knowledge, so being marked with the symbol of something he trusts bestows the trust on her.”

James could hear the smirk in Barton’s voice. “She’s clever, I’ll give her that.”

But James' was drawn back to the was drawn back when his soulmate used the words “healing ability.”

That’s when everything slowed down.

Darcy re-extended the claws in her right hand and seemed to meet James’ gaze through the glass.

“I’m not really human.”

She dragged a single blade across her neck. The metal dug deep into her skin and blood gushed outwards, down the front of her catsuit and onto the table and floor in front of her.

The observation room was silent. They only stood and stared at the woman who had just smiled and slit her own throat. Killed herself.

Suddenly, James punched the glass. It was thick, holding up under the force of his metal arm. He pulled his arm back from the small dent he made, intending to slam it back against the glass.

Then he noticed what Laura was doing. She had reached up and wiped blood away from the wound. Or more accurately, what had been the wound. The skin beneath was healing at a rapid pace - it was just barely scabbed over, and was almost instantly just a small line.

His arm fell to his side. The Bucky part of his mind was in a silent state of awe. The Winter Soldier part of his mind quickly wondered if killing her was even possible; decapitation seemed like an option. And James just stared. Stared at the impossible inhuman girl that fate had set aside for him.

The group behind him was still frozen in shock.

Stark spoke first. “What the hell is this thing?”

The horror was obvious in Steve’s response. “Well, I’m pretty sure we’re about to be completely out of our depth here.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

With everyone behind the glass still staring, Darcy had begun explaining her abilities. She was some sort of mutated being with an indestructible metal alloy bonded to claws stored in her arms. Once she started explaining her backstory, however, was when James started to really pay attention.

"I was raised from birth to be weapon, a killer. I don’t know when my first kill was, probably when I was around 6, but my first assassination was when I was 12. When I was 15, I escaped the facility with the help my mother. Sadly, I was forced to kill her in the process. I then made my own way for a while until meeting my father, when I joined his team. I killed when I was there too, but generally I killed bad people then.” James could feel gazes burning at the back of his skull, but he couldn’t find his own reaction. He was still angry at her lies, but he mostly just understood her.

Her story, while very fictional sounding, seemed to be honest. Ultimately, she was much the same as him; she had been created and twisted and used to kill just as he had. They had been broken, body and mind, and had to rebuild themselves from the pieces. And every part of him wanted to be healed.

Darcy had continued her story, explaining the split between Darcy and Laura. James could relate; he was James and Bucky and Winter Soldier, all rolled into one. Lucky for him, he was far less divided than his soulmate.

When Thor asked Darcy about the organization that raised her, James once again felt his hand clenching in anger, but this time it was not anger towards her.

"I was created by The Facility, which was inspired by Weapon X, which was inspired by Hydra. If I were to guess, the Facility was bankrolled by Hydra and the scientists were former members of Hydra, but I don’t have any proof of that. So as I said earlier, not _directly_ created by Hydra. But indirectly, absolutely.”

Hydra. The cause of every problem in James's life. Even in alternate dimensions, Hydra was ruining his life. Or, at the very least, Hydra had brainwashed his soulmate into believing she was from an alternate dimension.

Thor had gotten up and left the room, trading spots with Natalia who immediately began talking.

“You’re essentially free to go after you answer a few more questions.”

Darcy smiled. “Sounds good! Let me hear it!”

“Can you tell us who was in the heist with you and what it was he stole?”

“I can tell you who he is, but I can’t tell you his name. In the other universe, he was Laura’s father figure - even more so than her actual father. He was kinda her conscience for a while. So once she figured out she was in another universe, she sought him out because he would very likely have connections, which he did. He set her up with a full cover story and fake records under the name Darcy Lewis. And he’s currently helping us by searching for a telepath to help us out with this 'mental split’ thing we have going on. But yeah, that’s all I can tell you for now. And no, we don’t know what he was after or who the buyer is. But I do know that it’s not any sort of weapon; I asked.”

Tony grumbled. “It wasn’t a weapon, but the buyer can sure as hell turn it into a dangerous one. It was the last of the pure Vibranium in the country."

Steve shook his head. “I was a bit more interested in the fact that she’s looking for telepaths. She wants to 'fix’ her mental split, which means either she’s more messed up than we thought or she has resources that we could never come up with on our own."

Natalia then asked about the items Barton had found in her room.

"That backpack and its contents are the only things that came with me from the other universe. My uniform from the last superhero team that Laura was on: the X-Men. Or least _an_ X-men team. I mean, there’s quite a few teams that call themselves that these days. The photos are fairly self-explanatory. They’re just photo memories. And the bloody paper was a note from Laura’s mother. That one means a lot to her.”

Thor grumbled a bit. “She speaks as though these 'X-men' are present among us."

“Then why don’t you look anything like the girl in the photographs?”

The group watched as Darcy’s entire physicality changed. Her relaxed posture grew stiffer and more defensive. When she spoke, the words held a more formal tone.

“I had some superficial changes applied to my body in order to hide more effectively. Do you have a place where I may safely burn myself down to a skeleton? I would like to; it is much easier to build up from bone than regrow entire limbs.”

The observation room was silent except for the hysterical laughter of Stark.

“This girl is fucking insane! Slitting her throat, then asking for permission to burn to death? I swear I’m living in a B-list sci-fi horror film!"

Natalia continued her interrogation. "What was your relationship to the Avengers in your dimension?”

“In my universe, I studied at the Avengers Academy. My… father was an Avenger. I worked side by side with you many times. Hawkeye was my teacher at the Academy. Captain America and I had an agreement that he would not turn me over to SHIELD. And I stabbed the Hulk in the eyes and blinded him. He threw me into a building. We both healed.” Laura tilted her head, almost mockingly. “Does that answer your question?"

James turned to look at Rogers. Even in an alternate universe, Steve was helping him in numerous ways. Steve himself seemed insanely focused, but his worry showed through in his clenched fists.

Barton was nearly on the floor with laughter. “A teacher! I was a teacher! At the _Avengers Academy!_ That’s absolutely hilarious!"

James had turned back to the glass, watching Natalia’s final question for his soulmate.

“One final question; where do your allegiances lie now?”

“My allegiance lies with my soulmate and with those that do not wish to use me as a weapon. I have been used too many times, both by ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people.” She glanced over at the window, somehow meeting James’s own gaze through the reflective glass. “I believe that my soulmate feels the same as I do. I only speak for myself when I say my allegiance lies with the Avengers, so long as neither of us are used as a weapon. Allow us to make our own choices and I will be your ally. Take away that choice, and you will regret it."

James could feel his body relax and his arms fell to his ides, with his eyes still fixed on Laura’s face. This was his soulmate, and she wanted to know him. She wanted the two of them to have their own freedom - seemingly above all else.

James felt the beginning of a smile tug at his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this little side story! This has been a fun little character study kind of thing, and I think it really added to some of the world I'm trying to build.  
> This part is all over now, but the main story still has lots that's still happening and is going to happen. So thank you all for reading All Things Go, and I'll see you back over at Welcome to The Crying Game (Where You Lose Your Soul)


End file.
